Sports Premiere Creation Challenge
For the Suns, today's midseason tournament with the Lakers is a dream of the playoffs six months ago. Durant and Booker were frantically sandwiched by opponents, role players could not give any support, and in the heads-up of the two stars again and again, the Suns' hopes of winning gradually faded. It seems that the pot of loss should be all on the role player. But the question is, after an offseason of rectification, the Suns' role players have been changed for one round, so why can't they still play a tough game?How can we help Booker and Durant allocate teammates to help these two stars reduce their burden?
This game against the Lakers shows one thing, Durant and Booker's teammates must not handle the ball too much. The two star bigwigs, with great effort, passed the ball out in the encirclement, and the role players of the Suns, good guys, are so difficult to score a point in front of the advantage of playing more and less. Either Little broke through without a brain, and the head iron challenged the thick eyebrows and was taken off, or Eric Gordon made a three-pointer from a long distance and threw a burst of iron shots. Fans, handling or passing the ball is a big science, not all players can pass the ball. Little is a black rough man, and he is not good at passing the ball on the move, and there is no second choice except for "reckless" to challenge the thick eyebrows. Eric Gordon also can't pass the ball and shoots a lot of long-range three-pointers, which is his choice to play to his strengths and avoid weaknesses. This person is rough, that person is wasteful, and after coming and going, Booker and Durant's hard-earned advantage game was wasted.
Of course, the Suns role players aren't all rough guys. Nurkic and Grunson Allen are one of the few technical streams of the Suns, and when these two play together with Booker, the Suns' offense is a little bit like that. But there are also problems with technology streams. Nurkic and Booker play pick-and-roll, Booker attracts the Bushy Eyebrows and Reddish duo, and Nurkic can be a setter after receiving Booker's shot. The question is, do the Suns need Nurkic to deal their cards?After Brother Thick Mei was attracted by Booker outside the three-point line, Nurkic relied on his size advantage to face the Lakers' forward defense and dunk the ball directly into the basket, is it a more reasonable choice?But the embarrassment is that Nurkic has no finishing ability, and in the face of James and Hachimura's help defense, he panicked directly and threw the ball outside the three-point line. The "pot" naturally returned to Gordon and Little, and they could only continue to show their brainlessness.
Glenson Allen was the Suns' best role player of the day, making four open three-pointers, making five foul free throws and scoring 21 points, but Allen was nothing to fear from the Lakers. Can Allen shoot enough three-pointers for the Lakers to give up on pinching Booker?Just four three-pointers weren't enough. Will Allen be able to burst inside to finish the game?The same can't, Allen and Booker's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation can't even pull the thick eyebrows outside the three-point line, with Allen's talent, how can he cross the five fingers of the thick eyebrows?At 3 minutes and 31 seconds in the fourth quarter, Brother Thick Mei blocked and saved outside the three-point line, and Allen waited for an opportunity to hit the Lakers basket along the baseline air, which reflected Allen's ball quotient. But after receiving the ball under the basket, Allen couldn't finish in the face of Reddish's supplemental defense, and he wanted to trick Reddish with a feint. A few seconds of feints, not only failed to trick Reddish into flying, but waited for Brother Thick Eyebrows to return to help defense, and Allen's layup could only be slapped by Brother Thick Eyebrows.
Those who can handle the ball have no finishing ability, and those who have finishing ability can't handle the ball, and this is the current situation of Suns role players. Durant and Booker were caught in the trap by the Lakers, but can the Suns' loss be on the role players. Now in this era, all the superstars are being pinched, and James of the opposite Lakers is also being sandwiched by the Suns, is it possible that the Lakers rely on role players to win the game this time?
Before Rivers made that key three-pointer, weren't the role players of the Lakers just like the Suns a "sleeping dragon and phoenix"?Russell, as the Lakers' shooter, made all kinds of big open spots and threw in a few three-pointers. Do Prince and Hachimura have a strong ball dominance?Isn't it all "recklessness" on the inside, and then under the influence of Nurkic's rim, the finish under the basket is always a fraction of a second?Didn't Reddish turn back into an ice shooter this time?Even Brother Thick Eyebrows, he was "soft" in the fourth quarter today, spitting all kinds of cakes under the basket. Since James' Lakers teammates are unreliable, how did the Lakers win?
The Lakers won today, James faced the bag, did not pass the ball reasonably according to the "convention", but chose to play one and two, with two people on his body, and broke through the layup to score points. Fans, cherish this kind of game, there are not many times that "Full Strength Zhan" can appear!Relying on the physical fitness of the first, carrying a forward behind him, and hitting the tall "White Bear" center in front of him, this is James's toughest superpower, which makes no opponent able to defend. The position is attacking, hanging two people to defend, and the "all-out Zhan" who resolutely kills under the basket is a supergiant. James, who usually passes the ball when he encounters an assistant defense, loves to turn over and jump shots when he has nothing to do, and only makes a force in the fast attack, and rushes in front of everyone, has nothing to do with the word "supergiant". What ordinary people can't call a football star, and what ordinary stars can't call a supergiant. What does it mean to be "unpopular with ordinary stars"?In the face of pinching, one hit two to ensure scoring efficiency, which is obviously not something that ordinary stars can do.
"Full Force" is a supergiant, and the Suns are also known as supergiants, and Booker and Durant did something unusual today?Booker today can't even be called a star. Booker, who was in poor health, couldn't get rid of Reddish's full-court bite, and every time he made a jumper, he was successfully interfered with by Reddish. If you can't play heads-up with a success rate, what qualifies Booker to be called a star?Durant's performance today is much better than Booker's, at least Durant can still shoot singles, including two difficult three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Durant is a star today, but can you call him a supergiant?is also in the face of pinching, James can break through the pinching and continue to score, while Durant continues to make mistakes, either the ball is stealed by the Lakers at will, or before passing, the ball in Durant's hand has been snatched by the Lakers.
In fact, Durant's repeated mistakes under the pinch attack are not a matter of one or two games. In the first round of the 2022 Eastern Conference playoffs, the Nets were swept out by the Celtics, and in that series, Durant's shot error can be a highlight. In the 2023 Western Conference semifinals, the Suns faced the Nuggets, and Durant repeated the mistake of the past, and a large number of mistakes under the pinching appeared again. Durant, who can withstand two people and shoot jumpers, is a supergiant, and Durant in the past two years has still maintained the level of a supergiant?
Since the Suns have taken the path of the "Big Three" and the Big Three stars take most of the team's salary, don't expect to rely on the base salary to sign high-quality role players. Giants always have to do something that is in line with the level of giants. Durant is old, and he can't be a giant every game, but in the most important game of the season, he must be back to the "Grim Reaper" supergiant he once was.